Energy management is critical for environmentally conscious, cost-effective operation of buildings and facilities where, for example, central heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) and various other facilities' equipment may be used. There are a wide range of building management systems that exist today that can provide facility operations staff with individual equipment control and information on real-time operational status of equipment and short interval energy usage.
However, energy use and equipment information is most frequently provided in such a way that critical information, including systemic operational and cost issues, is not evaluated and presented in a manner easily interpretable by operations staff and management. Consequently, operations staff and management are not able to comprehensively identify issues that reoccur under similar conditions and make appropriate corrective decisions regarding equipment control, maintenance and equipment investments. Given a lack of comprehensive decision support tools, staff are also unable to determine the effects of suboptimal performance on power contracting and regulated utility tariffs. Accordingly, there is a need for improved energy management decision support systems and techniques for operators and management that account for the interdependencies between operations, power contracting/tariff optimization, and capital equipment improvements.